At last year’s women’s cross-country Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, Iowa, Alyssa Schneider finished in 21 minutes and 27 seconds, good for 58th place.

After being held out of the last two Illini meets by head coach Scott Jones due to precautionary reasons, Schneider had one of her best races this season in Evanston on Sunday.

The redshirt senior placed third out of the 122 Big Ten runners, finishing with a time of 19:58 for the 6-kilometer race.

Senior Britten Petrey followed up her first-place Illini Open performance with a 20:55 race, good for 28th overall.

Sophomore Audrey Blazek and junior Hanna Winter were next to cross the finish line for the Illini, finishing in 58th and 67th place, respectively.

Sophomore Denise Branch ended in 70th with a time of 21:47.

Junior Valerie Bobart finished in 88th, one place ahead of junior Megan Lemersal.

Junior Kim Seger (98) and sophomore Nicole Choquette (101) were the last of the Illini to finish the race.

Penn State won the conference title, followed by Michigan in second and Michigan State in third.

The Illini head to Lawrence, Kansas, in two weeks to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships.

[email protected]

@mike_mgasick